STOCKTON - The newest artwork at Franklin High is a mural on a wall outside the school's library.

On the left side of the painting, space shuttle Discovery lifts off. Across the top of the mural are the words, "Reach for the stars." On the right is a smiling likeness of one of the astronauts on that mission, garbed in a NASA jacket with a Yellowjacket pin in the lapel.

The real Jose Hernandez (Franklin, 1980) attended the unveiling of the mural Friday morning and was fully complimentary of his depiction, save for one wry comment.

"The only part they got wrong is I have a little bit of white on my mustache," the 48-year-old Hernandez said. "They painted it black. It makes me look younger, so I'll take it."

The mural was the work of two 2010 Franklin graduates, Cesar Santos and Eudocia Palacios, and one current senior, Santos Sosa. Hernandez thanked them for their work and was given a miniature replica of the mural.

"It will be prominently displayed in my office unless my wife takes it away from me and puts it in our home," Hernandez said.

Hernandez spent about two hours at his alma mater. In addition to the mural unveiling, he was on hand as fifth-graders from Marshall, Grunsky and Elmwood elementary schools were honored for finishing first, second and third, respectively, in a Stockton Unified "Science Blast" poster competition.

Then he headed to the auditorium, where he shared his compelling personal story - how, with the support of his migrant-farmer parents and with his own fortitude, he achieved his dream of becoming an astronaut.

He looked out at the audience in an auditorium packed with high school students. He spoke of being an East Side kid who cruised around in his '64 Chevy Impala. He spoke of working the fields with his parents picking strawberries, lettuce, grapes. When he mentioned his parents' Michoacan roots, there were cheers in the auditorium.

He told the students, "I see so much of myself in you guys. I visualize myself in 1979 or 1980 sitting in the audience. I'm no different than you guys. ... It's all about making decisions. It's all about, 'What do you want out of life?' "

He told the students not to allow others to define them.

"Labels, the way people see you at first, it's not what it's all about," he said. "It's what you do. I had a dream. The recipe my parents gave me, that's what I followed."

After his remarks, Hernandez narrated an 18-minute video of his 2009 mission - from liftoff to landing, with gravity-free somersaults and floating water bubbles and hard-working astronauts mixed in.

His first 11 applications to become an astronaut were rejected by NASA, Hernandez told the students. He refused to take no for an answer, and in 2004, the 12th time was a charm.

"He inspires us so much," Franklin Principal Reyes Gauna said.

Hernandez said, "You are going to be able to realize anything in life is possible if you work for it. I don't see myself as a smart person. I see myself as someone who was willing to work hard."